15 comments:

Every year at the Paul house, before we could open our gifts my Dad would read the Christmas story in both Luke and Matthew. It was a great lesson in patients and kept our focus on the real meaning of Christmas!LindsayLindsay.Franklin@gmail.com

One of my favorite family traditions at Christmas is that on Christmas Eve my entire family (aunts, uncles, and cousins) would all stay the night at my granparent's house. My cousin and I would sleep by the Christmas tree waiting for Santa. We were also allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve. Usually it was pajamas from the grandparents, so all of the cousins would match. Ha !! This makes me smile.

My parents got divorced in my pre-teen years, and at first it felt like holidays were going to be terrible. But over the years, it became a lot of fun to have one Christmas at my mom's, one at my dad's and dinner at my grandma's, all on the same day! Now that I'm married, that tradition will probably end soon, but I'll miss it a lot.

One year when I was little my mom noticed that no one in the family had cute pajamas. As she wanted us to look cute in our Christmas morning pictures, she bought everyone a new pair of PJs and let us open them on Christmas eve. Its been a tradition ever since. My Siblings that have started family's of their own have carried it on. I love it!!! New jammies for Christmas! Margaret Ann Hoarthaiharvest@gmail.com

My favorite Christmas tradition happened after my sister and I opened all of our presents. Since we were girls, we usually received lots of new clothes. After we were done opening all of our new gifts, we had a "fashion show" where we would showcase each of our new outfits to my parents. It was so much fun!

We have our "family traditions"- giving each member (kids and my husband/me) new pj's and an ornament to hang on the tree Christmas Eve, but my favorite tradition is one that we do outside of our family. Each year we "adopt a family" and buy Christmas gifts for them. This typically happens in a different way each year, but God totally connects us to a family around Thanksgiving. For the next couple weeks we all pray about what kind of gifts to buy and allow the Spirit to speak and move our hearts. We buy and wrap gifts together- the kids LOVE doing this. Sometimes we've thrown a party for the family, sometimes we just give them the gifts, sometimes we do it anonymously...however God leads that year. I think it's more of a gift to us than the receiving family; it places an emphasis of love and giving on the Christmas season. For me, there's nothing better than watching the kids get involved in the process- the way they commit themselves and their hearts' is priceless in mine. Bringing joy to others, brings much joy to us as well :)

One of the best traditions that developed as we got older was that we would get 2 or 3 movies from "Santa". After we had finished opening all our presents, trying them on or putting them away, and cleaning up, we will all sit around and watch a movie or two. It is a good way just to sit and share a moment as a family on such a special day!

The biggest family tradition that I will share always is the putting up the Christmas tree. The morning after thanksgiving we would spend all day putting up and decorating the tree while watching a Christmas story and Charlie brown christmas. The holiday music comes out along with all things christmas. Christmas Eve morning we would go to the churches soup kitchen and help prep for the homeless dinner they do every Christmas Eve night. Before we would go to the midnight mass we would get to open three of our gifts. The gifts would include a new orniment and PJ's for that night. I'm so happy to be able to share these traditions with my family!

We got up early in the morning (as soon as the kids wake up) to take picture of them opening the presents.Making sure we have their first reactions caught on tape. Then we get ready to go visit the family and share with them the rest of the day.

But now we are far from the family so we have to come up with some new traditions!

Christmas traditions start Christmas Eve. The girls get all dolled up in their holiday outfits that grammy picked out for them and we go to the candle light service. We come home after and sit in front of the lit tree with all the house lights off. we turn the train on that circles the tree and turn on some holiday tunes for some back round music. We sip some hot chocolate or egg nog and eat some cookies while daddy( Jack) reads from the Bible about the birth of our Savior and why we celebrate Christmas day. Then we all snuggle into bed with our new PJS. then everyone wakes up early to open presents and enjoy breakfast with all the trimmings. 40 days and counting! :)Katie Josephjackjoseph7@juno.com

We..:) read the story of Jesus' birth on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Morning, we open gifts. Mama(grandma) always get's us a coin set from each year. We have Christmas dinner complete with it's own set of traditions,) -Christan Hunsbedtchristan.renee@gmail.com

My mother's side of the family has a wonderful tradition that we have done for the past 10 years or so. Every year during the preparations of Christmas dinner my cute little grandmother will sneak over to the tree and hide a glass ornament that is green and in the shape of a pickle! After dinner and right before we open gifts the grandchildren are set loose to "find the pickle!" After our Grandmother's tree is almost torn apart, whoever finds the pickle gets an extra gift that is kept secret until the time that the pickle is found. But even better than winning the extra gift is the title of "the grandchild who found the pickle." (it is a pretty big deal to hold that title) We love it and as we get older it keeps us in the kid mood for Christmas :o)-Allison Bowenaly.grace@gmail.com

The Stack Family has a variety of Christmas traditions that have evolved as we have aged and/or added others to our family. One tradition I vividly recall is the making of the paper chain. And here the story goes:

One Christmas Eve (most likely in effort to get us from rattling, shaking, and peeking into presents) my grandmother, Nina, gave us a book of construction paper, scissors, and some tape. She instructed us (me, my sister, and my two girl cousins) in how to make paper chain links. And off we went, making a chain in festive Christmas colors. We proudly hung it to frame the tree!

Little did we know that Nina saved that paper chain until the NEXT Christmas Eve!

And so the tradition began, every Christmas Eve, us four girls would get together and make some more paper chain links to add to the previous years set. You could distingush different years by the colors and markings on the links. Soon, our paper chain was snaking itself around the house!

Sadly the paper chain no longer physically exists but, it does hold a special part in my memory of Christmas traditions. I can't wait to make more paper chains with my future kids. Such an easy way to make things more festive!-Amy Parkerstack.amy@gmail.com

Well, Margaret already told my fave tradition. Indeed, I love getting new PJs on Christmas Eve. Not only is it fun to get all snugly in your jammies and maybe watch a fun Christmas movie together - but then we all look cute in pictures for the next day. We stay in out Christmas PJs all day long. Maybe that's why I love that tradition so much, because I love spending all of Christmas day just relaxing with my family - in our PJs - eating candy from our stockings and playing with new toys. :) :)

Coming from a big Italian family, Christmas was always one of the highlights of the year. Christmas equaled Family.

Christmas Eve always started with at least 70 of us, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and great grandparents all gathered together in the basement of my great-grandparent's apartment house in Astoria, Queens. We ate to our fill of traditional Italian dishes and desserts that were only made on Christmas eve every year. There was never a dull moment from children playing hide and seek behind cases of sauce stashed away in the cellar to adults yelling across the table in Italian and my Uncle Pete who fell asleep on the couch after eating, every year, with a tooth pick in his mouth. My cousins and I always tried to get it out without him knowing.

After we would go to a late candlelight service which usually consisted of songs and hymns, communion and a short performance by the children. I'm pretty sure I was cast as Mary at least 5 times and got to dress up and hold a baby doll as we sang Away in A manger. =) I loved it! Then we would come home and linger around the Christmas tree with only the glow of the Christmas lights on and listen to Christmas music. I have to confess my favorite album was a "Sounds of the Holiday's" cassette tape we got at Shell gas station for buying so many gallons of gas. That cassette tape was played for hours upon end and still works today. =)

For my sister and I, Christmas morning was always a mad dash to the tree to inspect our gifts. We would then rush back to my parents' room, beg them to get up and all start opening our presents to each other. We then got to open and play with all our new toys or gifts from our parents until my moms 2 sisters and family came over. Our Christmas meal was always a minimum of 14 in attendance and was scheduled each year to begin promptly at 2pm. Funny thing is we never EVER started on time because of my Aunt Vita who always came late and would force us start around 3. Our meal was always the same, A huge pot of sauce made 2 days ahead of time, filled with meatballs, sausage, braciole and ribs. We'd choose the pieces we liked and have it over pasta. Then salad, chicken cutlets, broccoli rabe, spedini and REAL italian bread. After, the women would clean off the table and lay out hundreds of nuts and a bunch of nut crackers on the table to crack open along with bowls of fresh fruit to eat as the dishes were cleaned and the coffee was started. Then came the real treats. Cannolis, sfoyadellas, creme puffs, fruit tarts, fresh bakery cookies, pinole cookies, Italian custards, panettone, apple pie, pumpkin pie and to top it all off boxes of Bocci chocolates. We would then take out the POKENO game (an Italian version of BINGO) along with coffee cans filled with pennies and play, old and young together. Hours upon hours were spent at the table. Talking, laughing, shouting, singing and playing! To end it all, we'd exchange gifts among the cousins and all go our separate ways with our stomachs full and arms carrying trays of leftovers home and our hearts filled with the love of family being together.